The announcement that Twitter will soon give users the option to disclose their physical whereabouts kindled debate over the role of location-based services (LBS) in social media and elicited criticism that the tools are an invasion of privacy.
Besides helping us track our location patterns or the nearest Starbucks (SBUX), these apps collect valuable data about our daily routines and the routines of those closest to us. They track personal tastes in food, fashion, and music so we can receive alerts and location-based notifications.
Yet as the space crowds with LBS players, the challenge will be to protect users' privacy, find ways to make marketing pitches relevant, and separate useful sites from also-rans.
Twitter plans to make its location services opt-in, also letting users choose whether to tell others where they are.
A related but more fundamental question: What happens to the data that are being collected about our whereabouts?
"The majority of [existing] apps are very centralized—they remain Internet-based, and the controls are with the company," says MIT researcher Nadav Aharony.
Automated summary from: Business Week
